The most terrible tortures (21 photos). Instruments of torture of the Middle Ages

“Wooden billiards” Several people can participate in the game at the same time. To play you will need small sticks square section(length 2–3 cm), painted in different colors. Each player chooses the color of the sticks with which he will play (for each stick

***Sea Horse*** I can’t imagine what breed of horse the horse seen by Sinbad the Sailor belongs to, but I suspect that it is no different from other horses, except in size and gills. Genetically, he is a relative of an ordinary horse. Evidence of this is

Empire D. Wooden “The thunderstorm of the twelfth year” turned into a fire for Riga, almost as grandiose and destructive as the famous Moscow one. The difference is that there was no Napoleon in Riga. It seems that at first he planned to go towards it and take the city, but in the end he moved like

What do you think were the worst tortures during the Middle Ages? Lack of toothpaste good soap or shampoo? The fact that medieval discos were held to the tedious music of mandolins? Or maybe the fact that medicine did not yet know vaccinations and antibiotics? Or endless wars?

Yes, our ancestors didn't go to movie theaters or send emails to each other. But they were also inventors. And the worst thing they invented was instruments for torture, instruments with the help of which the system of Christian justice was created - the Inquisition. And for those who lived in the Middle Ages, Iron Maiden is not the name of a heavy metal band, but one of the most disgusting gadgets of that time.

This is not “three girls under the window.” This is a huge sarcophagus in the form of an open empty female figure, inside of which numerous blades and sharp spikes are reinforced. They are located in such a way that the vital organs of the victim imprisoned in the sarcophagus are not affected, so the agony of the person sentenced to execution was long and painful. The "Virgin" was first used in 1515. The condemned man died for three days.

This device was inserted into the openings of the body - it is clear that not into the mouth or ears - and opened so as to cause unimaginable pain to the victim, tearing these openings.

This torture was developed in Athens, Greece. This was a bull shape made of metal (brass) and hollow inside, with a door on the side. The convict was placed inside the “bull”. The fire was lit and heated to the point where the brass turned yellow, eventually causing it to slowly brown. The bull was designed in such a way that when screaming and screaming from inside, you could hear the roar of a mad bull.

Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by 16th century Dutch Revolution leader Diedrick Sonoy.

How it works?

1. The stripped naked martyr is placed on a table and tied;
2. Large, heavy cages containing hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened using a special valve;
3. Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4. In an attempt to escape the heat of the hot coals, rats chew their way through the flesh of the victim.

The know-how belongs to Hippolyte Marsili. At one time, this instrument of torture was considered loyal - it did not break bones or tear ligaments. First, the sinner was lifted on a rope, and then sat on the Cradle, and the top of the triangle was inserted into the same holes as the Pear. It hurt to such an extent that the sinner lost consciousness. He was lifted, “pumped out” and put back on the Cradle. I don’t think that in moments of enlightenment the sinners thanked Hippolytus for his invention.

For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. An elephant is very easy to train and teaching it to trample a guilty victim with its huge feet is a matter of just a few days.

How it works?

1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the martyr's head;
3. Sometimes, before the “head test,” animals crush the victims’ arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.

This device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. The hands were firmly fixed below and above. As the interrogation/torture proceeded, the executioner turned the lever, with each turn the person was stretched and hellish pain set in. Usually, upon completion of the torture, the person either simply died from pain shock, because that’s all his joints were pulled out.

The Chinese Communist Party uses the “dead man’s bed” torture mainly on those prisoners who try to protest against illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for their beliefs.

How it works?

1. The arms and legs of a stripped prisoner are tied to the corners of the bed, which instead of a mattress wooden plank with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, a person’s body is tied tightly to the bed with ropes so that he cannot move at all. A person remains in this position continuously for several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, police also place a hard object under the victim's back to intensify the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and the person hangs for 3-4 days, stretched out by his limbs.
4. Added to this torment is force-feeding, which is carried out using a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is performed mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by medical workers. They do it very rudely and unprofessionally, often causing serious damage internal organs person.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.

One of medieval torture, used in modern Chinese prisons, is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is placed on a prisoner, causing him to be unable to walk or stand normally.

The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 – 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs.

The victim, who is wearing a collar, has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed and usually must sit or lie down, since the upright position causes pain and leads to injury to the legs. Without outside help a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only puts pressure on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night the prisoner is unable to turn around, and in winter time a short blanket does not cover your legs.

An even worse form of this torture is called “crawling with a wooden clamp.” The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, his fingers, toenails and knees are bleeding profusely, while his back is covered in wounds from the blows.

A terrible, savage execution that came from the East.

The essence of this execution was that a person was laid on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into the person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.

The man was seated in a very cold room, they tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness they very slowly dripped cold water. After a few days the person froze or went crazy.

This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were placed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly fry, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.

Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne to which the victim was tied and a fire was lit under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.

Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.

This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictitious, but there is no evidence that the gridiron “survived” until the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, mounted horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath. Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.

Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.

This torture was used very rarely. Firstly, it was quite easy to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.

In ancient times, a pectoral was a female breast decoration in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often sprinkled with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and secured with chains. In a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.

In 1985, the pectoral was heated red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured woman’s chest and held it until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral again cooled by the living body and continued the interrogation.

Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes were left in place of the woman’s breasts.

This seemingly harmless effect was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch initially caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for quite a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles occurred and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.

At the most simple version torture: sensitive areas were tickled by the interrogated, either simply with their hands, or with hair brushes or brushes. Stiff bird feathers were popular. Usually they tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, and women also under the breasts.

In addition, torture was often carried out using animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated person. The goat was very often used, since its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grass, caused very strong irritation.

There was also a type of tickling torture using a beetle, most common in India. With her little bug They placed it on the head of a man’s penis or on a woman’s nipple and covered it with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of insect legs on a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything...

These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the person being tortured. First, with a few caressing movements (often made by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent, hard erection was achieved and then the torture began

These serrated iron tongs were used to slowly crush the testicles of the interrogated person. Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.

Actually, this is not torture, but an African ritual, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls aged 3-6 years old simply had their external genitalia scraped out without anesthesia. Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This ritual is done “for the benefit” of women, so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husbands...

Part of the image engraved on the Stora Hammers stone. The illustration shows a man lying on his stomach, with an executor standing over him, ripping open the man’s back with an unusual weapon.

One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, his ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. Scandinavian legends claim that during such an execution, the wounds of the victim were sprinkled with salt.

Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.

In order to the best way to carry out the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of racks or on a special big table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner began work in one of several ways. One of these methods involved forcing the victim, using a funnel, to swallow a large number of water, then they hit the swollen and arched belly. Another form involved placing a cloth tube down the victim's throat through which water was slowly poured, causing the victim to swell and suffocate.

If this was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then inserted again and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on a table under a stream of ice water for hours. It is interesting to note that this type of torture was considered light, and the court accepted confessions obtained in this way as voluntary and given by the defendant without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to extract confessions from heretics and witches.

The Middle Ages are considered the period in history with the most ruthless attitude towards people. For the slightest offense they were subjected to sophisticated torture. This review features 13 torture devices that will make people confess to anything.

1. “Pear of Suffering”

2. Rack

3. "Catherine's Wheel"

4. Crocodile pipe

5. Copper Bull

6. Spanish donkey

7. Torture coffin

8. Head crusher

9. "Cat's Paw"

10. Knee crusher

11. "Judas' Cradle"

12. Chest “claws”

13. "Expletive Bridle"

Information about capital punishment is approximately the same age as information about the first states. As a legal form of punishment, the death penalty appeared during the transition of society to legal relations. Later arose "the talion principle" according to which the punishment must be equal to the crime. Further, the death penalty was associated with ritual murder and sacrifice to the gods. In many ancient and medieval states the view death penalty depended on the personality and position of the convicted person. Many types of executions were aimed not at alleviating, but at prolonging suffering.

Public executions for the crowd turned into a kind of sporting competition: the convict’s antics that showed contempt for death (an indecent gesture addressed to girls, asking the priest to bring a drink instead of a cross, statements like “for me, death is no worse than an enema,” etc.) were greeted with applause. ), and the skill of the executioner - a successful blow is a successful blow both in the stadium and on the scaffold. It happened that hysterical individuals deliberately committed crimes in order to be the center of such flattering attention.

The death penalty was so demonstrative, spectacular, it had so many conventions, allegories, symbols, and humor, albeit primitive: bake a person in a hollow copper bull so that his screams imitate the roar of an animal, roast on a spit like a hare, fry in flour , like crucian carp.

1. "The Iron Maiden"
The “Iron Maiden” is an instrument of capital punishment or torture of the Middle Ages, which was a cabinet made of iron in the form of a woman dressed in the costume of a 16th-century townswoman. It is assumed that having placed the convict there, the cabinet was closed, and the sharp long nails with which the inner surface of the chest and arms of the “iron maiden” were seated were pierced into his body; then, after the death of the victim, the movable bottom of the cabinet was lowered, the body of the executed person was thrown into the river and carried away by its current.

Moreover, apparently, the nails inside the “iron maiden” were located in such a way that the victim did not die immediately, but after quite a while. long time, during which her judges had the opportunity to continue the interrogation.

According to the stories of ancient writers, a similar method of execution was first invented by the Spartan tyrant Nabis. The device he invented looked like a woman sitting on a chair and was called "Apegoy", named after the tyrant's wife. As the condemned man approached, Apega stood up and threw both her arms over his back, studded, like her chest, with sharp nails that tore the body into pieces.

2. Torture by hunger
Poor workers in a poor home were lifted in a basket above the table where the more industrious ones ate.

3. Torture and waterboarding
Drowning was used when it was necessary to execute many people at the same time. This is how the murderers of parents were executed Ancient Rome and Greece, and in the Middle Ages the water test was used in relation to witches: the bound woman was thrown into the water, if she drowned, then she was innocent, and if not, then she was hanged.

4. Burying alive
Even in Ancient Rome and in Ancient China Burying alive in the ground was applied to the Vestals for the loss of virginity.
In medieval Russia, such an execution was applied to a wife who killed her husband. The victim, buried in the ground up to his shoulders, usually died on the second or third day from dehydration and starvation.

5. Quartering
Quartering was prescribed for crimes against power, treason, and rebellion in medieval China and Russia. The criminal's arms and legs were first cut off, and then his head.

6. Wheeling
From 1450 to 1750, at least one person died on the wheel every day in Europe. Wheeling consisted of breaking each limb of the convict in two places and the spine with an iron crowbar, then the body was tied to the wheel so that the heels met the back of the head, and was left to die.

7. Throat congestion
Pouring the throat with molten metal was used in Russia until 1672 against counterfeiters. Other liquids were also added.

8. Impalement
Impalement involved the slow penetration of a stake inside a person, the agony lasting several days. This execution was used in medieval Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

9. Hanging
One of the brutal methods of killing slaves. They are hung with a hook so that they die of thirst and hunger.

10. Decapitation
It was used for a very long time as the main type of execution throughout almost the entire second millennium AD.

Death of King CharlesI.

Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1557

If in England they cut off heads in a simple “clumsy” way, then in France they went further and invented special device - guillotine .

Execution of LouisXVI, 1793

11. Gallows
In medieval France, a stationary gallows served as a sign of the lord's power: the duke had six pillars, the baron had four, the chatelain had three, and other small fry had only two. In Ancient Rome, slaves had a separate executioner. In many countries, the thief was hanged higher or lower depending on the size of the theft.

Hanging was considered a dishonorable execution, and beheading was considered a privileged execution, although in China, for example, everything was the other way around: there it is considered shameful to lose any member, and perhaps that is why such a surgical execution, requiring high qualifications, as cutting into a thousand pieces arose - on a marble table, using knives of various shapes, each of which is intended for one operation: for tearing out eyes, for removing genitals, “for hands”, “for feet”.

Gallows executioners often prided themselves on being able to get everything right on the first try. They came up with formulas to determine the length of the hatch, which took into account the weight of the convict. The arms and legs were tied so that the body fell vertically. The executioners also experimented with the thickness of the rope and the placement of the noose with the sole purpose of achieving instant loss of consciousness by displacing the spinal column and severing the spinal cord. Captain Kidd was executed in 1701, the rope broke and he fell to the ground, but he was raised and hanged again, this time successfully. It is noteworthy that the bodies of the hanged were left on the gallows for some time, established in the order of execution. On execution docks in 18th-century England, the bodies of pirates were left hanging until the tides washed them away.

12. Garrotte
Garrote (Spanish: “garrote”, “dargarrote” - twisting, tightening; execute) is a Spanish method of execution through strangulation. Initially, the garrote was a noose with a stick, with which the executioner killed the victim. Over time, it transformed into a metal hoop, driven by a screw with a lever at the back. Before execution, the convict was tied to a chair or pole; a bag was placed over his head. After the sentence was carried out, the bag was removed so that spectators could see the victim's face.

Later, the garrote was improved. Thus, the Catalan garrote appeared, where the screw was equipped with a point, which, when turned, gradually screwed into the neck of the convicted person and crushed his cervical vertebrae. Contrary to popular belief, such a device was “more humane”, since the victim died faster.
During the conquest of America by the conquistadors, garrote became widespread in the Spanish colonies.

In 1828, King Ferdinand VII abolished hanging and introduced the garrote as the only legal way executions in Spain for criminals. The execution was only abolished in 1974.

12. Burning at the stake
Burning was actively used in ancient times in many countries, but it flourished in the Middle Ages, since this was how the Inquisition executed heretics. Throughout Europe, this execution reached enormous proportions: thousands of people were burned alive, often en masse, on charges of witchcraft, cohabitation with the devil, blasphemy, and even deviance. The most famous example is the burning of Joan of Arc.

In Russia, burning was also used for religious criminals, and the execution was more painful, as it was carried out over low fire.

Landscape with a man on fire, and soldiers around him; illustration, Florence, 1619

13. Torture and execution using animals
One of the most ancient types of execution. The Romans, Assyrians and Babylonians staged public spectacles by placing prisoners in lion pits. In the East, criminals were killed by allowing elephants to crush their heads and tear them to pieces with their feet and trunks. In the book "Man Victim"James Clark retells the story of civil unrest in Brazil, during which local residents made cuts in the skin of local prisoners and tied them waist-deep in a river infested with piranhas.

In India, a criminal was crushed with the help of a trained elephant. Well, the devouring of criminals by wild animals in Ancient Rome actually took place in the circus and was a favorite spectacle of the Roman people.

Dog baiting

Torture with a cat, London, 1651

Torn apart by horses

14. Torture and execution for faith
Some of the most severe tortures occurred in the Middle Ages during the discord in various movements of Christianity.

Example: Torture of Catholics by Huguenots in the south of France

A - tortured by hungerin pairs in shackles so that they eat each other.
B -naked is pulled along a tightly stretched rope, which acts like a knife, cutting the body in half.
C - slow roasting on a spit.

The role of the executioner coincided with the role of the priest - this is what surrounded the executioners with respect, the charm of which cannot be returned by any pure heart and cold hands. Only the reflection of the sacred rite made it possible to turn mass burnings of heretics into attributes of state celebrations: on the occasion of accession to the throne or marriage, on the occasion of the birth of an heir, etc. The work went on for several days, they burned in hundreds and thousands, for greater brightness they dressed up “means of illumination” into sulfur-soaked shirts and stuffing flammable substances “into secret parts of the body.”

Monarchs did not disdain the role of executioner: Darius personally cut off the nose, lips and ears of the Median king, Ivan the Terrible also loved to have fun, Peter I personally cut off the heads of five archers (and Alexander Menshikov boasted that he had dealt with as many as twenty). It was thanks to the mystical, royal glow, and not to the executioner’s virtues, that in some areas of Germany the executioners gained noble title, and in France they occupied a place of honor in solemn processions. Their prestige began to decline when they began to attach only earthly, utilitarian significance to executions. The executioners were still surrounded by superstitions, but already unflattering ones. They were afraid to live next to them, they were afraid even to accept money from them, looking for bloody stains on them. In Russia, it became difficult to find assistant executioners, who were previously simply pulled out of the crowd, and in 1768 a decree was issued generally prohibiting the use of executioners on a voluntary basis - due to “disorders and grievances.”

Throughout history, various forms of torture have been used on women to control their behavior. When you read it, a shiver will run down your spine. Women were tortured to suppress their sexuality, silence them, or conform to beauty standards. Above all, it was aimed at breaking the spirit of women and making them submissive to men who feared the destruction of their fragile worldview. Feminists wouldn't like this very much. Most of these torture methods were abolished centuries ago, however some of these barbaric punishments are still practiced today.

1. Spanish donkey

A Spanish donkey, also known as a wooden horse, slowly cut a woman through her genitals. It was used in the Middle Ages, during the Spanish Inquisition. A similar device was used by the Confederates during Civil War. The device was a board, the upper edge of which was sharpened into a wedge shape. The board, which was sometimes covered with spikes, was supported by two or four legs. The woman was placed astride this board, which slowly cut her body, starting from the crotch. Sometimes weights were tied to the woman’s legs so that the wedge-shaped edge would penetrate even deeper and cut the internal organs.

2. Female circumcision mutilated little girls.

Female circumcision is recognized as one of the barbaric methods of torture. According to the World Health Organization, more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone this procedure. Unlike male circumcision, there are no health benefits from female circumcision. Its sole purpose is to reduce a woman's sexual pleasure. In most cases, the procedure was performed using unsanitary instruments in dirty conditions. A young girl under 15 years of age was being held by female family members. One of them took a jagged object and removed the clitoris and sometimes the labia. In many cases, infection occurred, which often led to death.

3. Chest vise

This particularly vile instrument of torture, also known as the “iron spider,” was used on women accused of adultery and single mothers. It was a tool with two large pointed teeth that was placed into a woman's breast and then the flesh was pulled out. When heated, it was used to make a special mark on a woman’s chest. This weapon ceased to be used in the Middle Ages.

4. Masks of shame

In the Middle Ages the most in a simple way to silence a woman who always grumbles and finds fault, was the so-called mask of shame. This instrument of torture was also used on a woman who gossiped. At that time, gossip was feared as an invention of the devil. The first recorded evidence of the use of a mask of shame dates back to the 16th century. Sometimes spikes were also placed in a woman's mouth above her tongue, which caused great pain to the woman when she tried to say something. However, the torture of the mask of shame was primarily psychological - the woman was publicly humiliated when she was put out on the street in this form, and those around her cursed and spat on her.

5. Sawing a woman in half was quite common.

The woman was hung upside down and literally sawed in half, starting with her genitals. Unlike the movies, there was no way to escape this nightmare. This method of torture was used in the Middle Ages as a way to inflict the most pain with the least amount of effort. All that was needed for this was a saw, two people with no compassion and a very strong stomach. This torture was used on women accused of witchcraft, adultery or blasphemy. As a rule, during the torture the woman was still alive and conscious. The process sometimes lasted several hours before the executioners eventually cut the entire body in half. Or they stopped at the stomach to prolong the painful death.

6. The heartache bag was used on women accused of having an abortion.

The name of this inquisitive device speaks for itself. The misery pear, so named for its resemblance to the above-mentioned fruit, was a terrible method of torture used in the Middle Ages and into the 17th century. Metal tool was divided into 4 segments in the form of petals, which opened when the lever located on the opposite side was turned. The main victims of this device were women accused of witchcraft and abortion. The pear was inserted into the vagina and gradually opened, tearing the woman’s reproductive organs and causing incredible suffering. The tool was also applied to suspected homosexuals. It was also used against people accused of spreading heresy. It expanded until the victim's jaw bones broke.

7. Stone throwing is still practiced today.

Stone throwing, or lapidation, is one of the most ancient and primitive methods of torture. Its essence is that stones are thrown at a person’s head. Although men are also stoned to death, women represent the vast majority of victims of this brutal public execution in modern world. Most often, the victims of this type of execution are women accused of adultery. And sometimes even family members of the victim act as executioners. Today, 15 countries still practice stoning as a punishment, including Nigeria, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan.

8. Sexual torture and violence have occurred around the world

Rape has been used as a means of torture throughout history. For example, during the Nanjing Massacre, Japanese soldiers raped and killed thousands of Chinese women. Rape is also used as a method to extract confessions from prisoners. Amnesty International has found that rape is "commonly" used to force women to confess to crimes in Mexican prisons. Rape is probably the oldest and most persistent method of torturing women that exists.

9. Burning at the stake

Burning at the stake was a classic form of capital punishment reserved for women suspected of witchcraft, treason, and heresy. (Men accused of heresy or treason were usually executed by hanging and quartering). Burning women was generally popular in England in the 15th to 18th centuries, but contrary to popular belief, it was not used during the Salem Witch hunts. If a victim sentenced to death by burning was not lucky enough to pass out from inhaling the smoke, they would die a painful death, feeling their skin burn and tear. Relief only came when the nerves in the skin were too damaged for the victim to feel any more pain.

10. Corsets deformed women's bodies

The corset has been around for about 500 years. And after all the horrors described above, it doesn’t seem like anything scary. Many modern feminists argue that the corset was a device used to subjugate women and was used to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy standards of beauty. The first mention of corsets dates back to 1530. However, corsets began to be popularized in the 18th century, and were used, as in their modern version, as underwear. Corsets restrict breathing and prolonged wearing of a corset can lead to waist deformation. It also restricts and displaces vital organs and causes atrophy of the back muscles.